Hey guys, my stepfather has a great 257 roberts sporter that has less than 100 rounds through since built, 257 roberts ackley I should say.

Anyways, his brother has one too and loaded some HOT rounds up, years ago, I'm talking green on the necks old. Every round splits the neck, one actually seperated the neck at the shoulder.

My question is this, if it were my gun I would never shoot the rounds in there, I'd toss them (considering the condition of the cases), but wouldn't risk damage to the gun. I told him he could get lug set back pounding it like that.

Am I right, or is this not a worry, the primers are a little flattened but not super bad, is it the brass maybe?

Red

If it were me I would tear them down for the bullets and toss the rest. The powder is fun to burn at night the kids love it.
The next shot could be the one that blasts you in the face or eye with hot gas, I wouldn't shoot them anymore and I'm braver than most!

Firing suspect rounds is hardly worth the risk of injury/death and a damaged or destroyed rifle. I'm with you all the way.

quote:

Originally posted by Dago Red:

I'm talking green on the necks old. Every round splits the neck, one actually seperated the neck at the shoulder.

Red

If you are seeing green oxide on the case necks that usually means the cases have been stored wet or the powder inside is breaking down and forming nitric acid. This is weakening the brass and leading to splits. Either way they need to be broken down.

tear the ammo appart, discard correctly.

not work risking YOUR LIFE over

No kidding, and I have the stuff to load fresh for it, I bought a bag of 257 and have it somewhere in the shop. I'll give him a call and offer to take care of it, I need to install a new pad too.

Thanks guys, just wanted to make sure I wasn't being over cautious.

Red

Over cautious ? No.
A couple things; I,ve never heard of deteriorate powder getting stronger. My experience with a lot of deterioeated 4895 was just the opposite.
the brass ,however, gets brittle and will rupture.Proably this could cause you to get some gas in the face.
I've seen it create hang fires and on occasion came close to seriously wounding the shooter and those close by. Inspector Richard Wagner of the Cleveland police dept., Later to become Chief of Police. Had a hang fire in a( than new) Mod. 760, 30-06. The ammo was as I remember was WWI vintage ( this took place about 1952). Every one heard the click and inadvertantly( Maybe) Dick started to move the slide to the raer. Well it got blown back to the rear and split the action.The clip was not in the rifle and a large chung of the brass went down the mag well through Dick's shirt furrowed along his belly went under his belt and out an upper pants leg. Another chunk went flying by a number of us and stuck a good bit into a tree.
So what I'm indicating is that I would fear a hang fire incident more than anything from that ammo which many on this forum have experienced with old ammo ,I'm sure. roger

Update:

I spoke with my stepfather about this and he said I can get the rifle, it's at my brother's, and ammo and do whatever I want. supposedly these are 90 grain barnes x bullets (I say supposedly because I don't see 90g 25cal x bullets online) so they're worth pulling. the only problem is that I only have the friction/hammer puller and it takes forever.

Mostly I want to avoid damage to the rifle as I hope he'll sell it to me some day.

So I'll get it in hand and next post some questions in small bore for 257 rob AI loads.

Thanks guys.

Red

get a 3' section of 4x4 or lawn timber, and HIT THE END GRAIN.. amazing how much faster it'll pull the bullets

Hey, I'll have to give it a try, I think last time I was using the anvil or the workbench (which is 14gauge over 2x10's I think) but I keep scrap lumber around for wheel blocks, ramps etc. etc. Thanks Jeff.

Red

How'd that work out for you?

quote:

Originally posted by jeffeosso:
get a 3' section of 4x4 or lawn timber, and HIT THE END GRAIN.. amazing how much faster it'll pull the bullets

Thanks for that tip. I have a fairly large batch of .308's in ex-military brass that the loader (me ) didn't bother to measure for case length and all of the cases are .020" or more too long. So they need to come apart for "modification". Your "stump" method sounds a lot better than sitting crosslegged on a concrete floor and beating the devil out of it with the plastic hammer. In fact, I have a three-foot tall oak stump right out the back door. Wonder if that would work as well or better than the 4x4?

I haven't tried it yet, still have to get together with my stepbrother to pick up the rifle. Expected to see him sunday but apparently he went to a wedding out of town. But I already have my block of wood ready.

Red